The Interchange Effect
by TheRangerBoy
Summary: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke
1. Prologue

Chapter 1

Deep in terivian space…

"So you want the most valued child in humanity's boarders."

"He's my son!"

"Yes I see, but he is the most intelligent being in the galaxy."

"At least let me see Alex. He's 10, and I've only seen him once."

"That is… deemed acceptable Mr. Smith."

"Thank you Director, he's all I've got left."

10 years later…

"Alex?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"Are you done with the medical nanites?"

"Sure. They're on the micro-"

"Ahhh!"

"Dad?"

Suddenly there was a boom. Alex ducked behind his worktable, but wasn't too luck as a shard of shrapnel lodged it's self in his leg. The shrapnel was large enough that he would die if he even got to a hospital in time so he tried to take his only hope, the nanites. He dragged his uninjured leg forward the lab was slowly catching fire. He slowly felt the fire singe his clothes and soon him. After the slow and painful first step he took another and another. He grabbed the syringe off of the worktable and injected himself with the contents. The floor started to dissolve around him as the nanites took materials to reproduce. 'Now the painful part.' The nanites returned to him and formed around his cuts. He screamed in agony as the nanites flooded his bloodstream, each nanite feeling like a shard of glass. He screamed until his scream gave out into a hoarse croak. Then he passed out covered in an insulating layer of nanites, protecting him from the intense heat from the 1,500 degree heat.

POV: Alex

"He's waking up! Get Dr. Lane!"

I tried to open my eyes but everything was so bright. "What's going on? Where am I?" I said through closed eyes.

"You're on Fort Kune medical hospital on Pluto," said Dr. Lane continued "as for what happened, we were hoping you could tell us."

"There was an explosion…" I trailed off.

"Hmm… that may explain the high metallic content in your body right now."

"Yeah… can I speak to The Director."

 _Command Prompt Established._

"Wait did you hear that?"

POV: 3rd

"Wait did you hear that"

Alex suddenly started having a seizure. After 9 seconds exactly, it stopped. The doctors stared at him in confusion and shock before Dr. Lane snapped everyone out of it.

"Get him to the advanced scanning rooms," Dr. Lane snapped "Now!"

3 hours later…

POV: Alex

I slowly open my eyes to find, thankfully, the room I'm in is dim. _'_ Wait what the hell is happening _?'_ I fling myself into a sitting up position and scan it to see any details. Sadly it is just a simple hospital room. I press the button on the side of the bed to call for a nurse. Surely, one comes in.

"Do you need anything sir?" The nurse asks kindly

"Yes," I respond "What happened to me?"

"Ah, it appears that you gained a large piece of shrapnel in your right knee."

"I… see… was there any complications removing it?"

"Sorry sir, but only the doctor who operated on you knows that."

"Ok then, did my father make it?"

"I… I'm afraid not"

I griped the pole on the side of the bed in grief. 'He's dead… just like that, one boom and that's it.

"You have a visitor Mr. Smith."

"Le… let them in I guess."

A man in a clean grey suit walked in. He simply walked up to me.

"Are you Alexander Smith?" he asked in a thick southern accent

"Yes." I replied

"Then son, you're getting one hell of an offer"

A/N: Well that's chapter one folks. I got inspired to start writing by the many authors that write fun exciting stories to read. I'm gonna list them on my profile page. I hope y'all enjoyed.

I'm Out


	2. The Woman In The Garden

Chapter 2

"Well son you're getting one hell of an offer"

"My dad just died and I'm getting another scolarsh-!"

"This isn't that kind of offer. That explosion wasn't an accident. You and your father made enemies, powerful ones, and there coming after you!"

"You expect m-"

"No, I don't expect you to believe me without proof. Plus, you may get some payback."

"Only after the evidence."

"I wasn't expecting any less. On the contrary, I'd actually be disappointed."

I get out of bed just as I realize I'm in one of those horribly embarrassing hospital clothes.

"I hope you got clothes too. All mine burned."

I follow them out. They also signed me out. I quietly thank them. We walk out onto the dome city. We head to a dark green sky car. I get in, still in the hospital clothes. "Soooo when can I get out of these clothes?"

"Not unless you want to strip in the car."

"Damm, no need to get kinky all of the sudden."

He busted out laughing. "So you're the joking type." He sighed "good, you'll need humor if you're serious."

"I don't know how bad this may get but I'm following through, I've got to."

"Son, you've got no idea."

"So, who will I be working for?"

"That would be me. You, for now, may call me Mr. Summres, or The Director

10 years later

I walked through the doors to the office. It was dark and gloomy. I pulled out my R-10 pistol, And aimed it at the man in the chair.

"So why did you do it? I mean why kill a man only doing his part to make a better place? You killed my father the only man who trusted me, he let me be myself, then you turned me into a walking invention machine. You turned me into a monster! You orchestrated all this just to get me to kill you, but for what?"

"Alex, you may not understand this, but this was to help you fully realize your capabilities."

"Capabilities? You destroyed my life Mr. Summres, my family, and my future for your own goals."

"Ah, But you must realize that you did so much more without those… connections."

He spun the chair like the movies.

"So are you with me or against me?" he added

"No, I'm here to end your crusade for power and avenge those who you killed along your path."

"Then for this I am very sorry. Activate protocol 63"

 _Unknown Element Detected. Entergy Hazard Detected. Attempting Countermeasure._

"What did you release?!"

I shoot him in the shoulder for emphasis. But he smiled, "tsk tsk tsk you… had to… go… against the… waves." Then he dies, his nose bleeding slowly.

 _Countermeasure failed. Bodily Defense Broken. Cardiac arrest imminent._

 _'_ _How is my bodily defense broken you've kept me alive in space through suit punctures.'_

 _The Element Seemed To Phase Out Of Existence._

 _'_ _How can I survive this?'_

 _Countermeasure developed_

 _'_ _Implement it'_

 _Done… WARNING: SPATIAL WARP DETECTED_

With a bright flash of light the entirety of Mr. Summres' fortune, a six quadrillion dollar private military base was vaporized except for one man.

My vision went white for what felt like forever. When I finally was able to see, I was very confused. 'Why am I in a garden?' I stepped onto a nearby stone brick path, and followed it. I looked at the pine trees, ferns and apple trees. 'Not how I imagined heaven.' "Hello!" I called out to the garden. "Is anyone out there?"

"Oh, hello there."

I spin around and point my pistol at the lady that just spoke. She was a tall black woman in a 70s-80s suit. She had a small purse at her side. One defining feature was the three stripes in her black mini-afro.

"I recommend you do not try that." She suggested

"And why's that?"

"This is my… realm. I own it, care for it, nurture it."

"Where am I? Earth, Halune, Luna?"

"You are nowhere yet everywhere."

"Stop with the philosophical bull sh-"

"Watch your language when speaking to a lady."

"And who do you think you are?!"

"Your elder and the one allowing you here!"

"Prove it."

"Gladly."

The garden warped and shifted into an old worn city, The colors surpassing that of the best V.R. suites in Terivian space. I jumped back into a concrete wall.

 _'_ _Do an analysis of the area to see of it's real.'_

 _Analysis Complete_

 _No V.R Wavelengths Detected_

"Ok, now you've got my attention."

10 minutes later and one walk through the garden.

"So I'm not dead, this isn't heaven, and this place can let me travel to parallel realities?"

"Yes, that is true, in a simplistic manner."

"Well hot damm"

"What is it?"

"I'm only here because of the little buggers in my body."

"How?"

"They did this to keep me from dying"

"Ah."

"What now? I've got nothing left. My life has been destroyed, my family is dead,

And the one who did it is dead.

"Then make a new one."

"A new what?"

"A new life."

It took a few seconds to understand what she was getting at. I nearly jumped back in surprise.

"Who are you?"

"You can call me… Rochelle."

"Warning, things in both other realities are VERY different then the one you may be used to."

"Yeah, yeah, how do I get to them?"

"There will be doors to all of them in a few seconds."

Surely as she said there were three doors, each with engraved golden nobs.

"Thank you for all this, and it was a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"As to you" she said as she waived.

'Can't be that different'

I turned the doorknob and stepped out only to find myself surrounded by men in medieval armor.

"Damm you Murphy's Law."

CODEX UPDATED

R-Class system: After his father's death Alexander Smith turned to designing weapons, especially firearms, in order to get over his grief. The R-Class was formed after he had designed several weapons, in order to allow his consumers to understand how powerful the weapon was that they were getting. The classes are as follows.

R-1: Very Low Quality, 100-200 credits. Your average civilian could get R-1 class weapons.

R-2: Low Quality, 300-500 credits. This is a little out of your average Joe's price range but still civilian grade.

R-3: Average Quality, 500-1000 credits. This is only usually owned by normal military personnel, but is accessible with a permit.

R-4: High Quality, 1000-2000 credits. This is usually owned by commanders and medium price collectors.

R-5: Very High Quality, 2G-5G credits. This is exclusively found with generals and high price collectors.

R-6 to R-8: Legendary Quality, 10G-50G credits. Only Special Forces have access to R-6-R-8.

R-9: Nova Quality, 100G-900G credits. Only Nova units have access to these.

R-10: Ranger Quality, 1M-5M credits. Only Alexander Smith has access to these weapons due to their price and that they are in the prototype stage. Also they usually, are this way due to their requirement of heavy augmentation to properly fire some.

A/N Well that's a wrap. I got this out pretty late (at night). I couldn't really stop writing today and pumped out 900-1000 words so I'm pretty happy about this. Hopefully I can continue at this rate. I also plan to take this in a short 2-3 chapter detour in elderscrolls to add to the confusion to the main character. I also will be continuing the codex entries like in this chapter unless y'all don't like them.


	3. Going Midieval

A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner I've been very busy moving n' stuff. Anyway I've been planning on getting this out but never found the time to right

Chapter 3

"Damm you Murphy's Law!"

I hold my hands up to keep them from trying to gut me. They exchange glances, and try to find out how the hell I got here. "Uh, take me to your leader?" I say to lighten the mood. They, unfortunately, do not get my joke.

"Take him to the throne room. Jarl Elisif will decide his fate."

They grab me by my arms, I try to fight back but they seem inhumanly strong.

"Ah, look at this milk drinker. He's barely putting up a fuss."

"I love you too." I say very sarcastically

"Shut up thief!" the guards yell at me.

"But we were just getting to know each other."

That rewards me with a swift jab to the ribs. I grunt but otherwise remain sarcastic.

They take me upstairs, which by the way are fancy as hell! They drop me right in front of the jarl.

"So, are you going to try to execute me, because I've got time?"

The 'Jarl' gets up from her seat, and waves off the guards. I, sadly, am left on my knees. I quickly stand up only to find her inches away from me.

"Whoa, I wasn't expecting things to accelerate that quickly." I say to blow off her proximity.

"You aren't the usual thief or beggar in my court. You seem… organized."

"You could say that."

"Who are you?"

"Whoa, already trying to get on first name basis." She sends a glare that could kill. "Fine, fine I'll bite, Alex, Alexander Smith"

"Well, Mr. Smith, why are you in my palace?"

"Well ma'am, that's complicated." I say

"I am sure it is"

"Ah, so… how are we gonna do this?"

"There are two options; both are a form of punishment."

"What would that be?" I say getting nervous.

"Well there's prison." I flinch. 'Yeah there are probably waaaay too many men between me and an exit.' "And there's enlistment."

I look at her like she's crazy.

"You mean to say you hire criminals for your military?"

"Well yes and no. We use it to stop petty thievery, and give them hope at a more legitimate future. Most choose six months of fighting over eight in prison."

"I guess I've got only one choice."

5 Months Later…

"Aye, can you believe were bringing Ulfric into Helgen today? This is finally over."

"Naw, I don't care who wins the fight. I've been at this for 5 months. Next month I can actually stop serving." I say with conviction. 'Sure swords are great, but I don't have time to enjoy the finer things in life'

"Alex?"

"Yeah, sorry thinking about the fun I'm gonna be having after all this."

"MEN! ARMOR UP! WERE OUT IN FIVE!"

After getting armored up, I get onto the first carriage. Just as I make myself comfortable, "SMITH, GET UP, YOUR IN CARRAGE TWO NOW!"

"Yes ma'am." I sigh out

After I get in the carriage we make our way down to Helgen. I turn to the prisoners. I just about damm jump out of my seat when I see who it is.

Ulfric Storm cloak is in this damm carriage.

"They never tell me anything." I mutter

"Where are we going?" one of the prisoners, a female elf, asks calmly.

"To Helgen." I reply. No use in getting to know someone on death row

"Why?" she asks in a slightly more curious tone as she tests her bindings.

"Look at the guy to your right and tell me."

She glances towards Ulfric as I her shoulders sag a little.

"Welcome to the chopping block Ma'am."

At Helgen…

"WHAT IN OBLIVION"S NAME IS THAT?!"

I look up at the watchtower. THERE. IS. A. HUGE. DAMM. DRAGON. ON. IT.

Then a whole bunch of small meteors hitting the ground. I decide to not try to get crushed and run for the prison. Since they're all underground I find that it will be safe. I get to see the elven prisoner and the storm cloak one fighting over where to go so I decide to run past the and make it into the keep. Once inside, I find that the elven prisoner has followed me and apparently broken the ragged cuffs around her wrists. I reach on the wall and pluck a decent sword off it and toss it to her.

"Handing a weapon to a criminal?"

"I want to get out of here as much as you do. So if you have a better plan now's the time to reveal it."

I walk to the door and open it we both quietly enter to find two dead imperial solders and two Storm Cloaks standing over them. I draw my sword and catch the first off guard with a simple stab through the chest. Feel a searing heat fly past me as I glance to see where it is going only to find the second Storm Cloak a crumpled burning mess on the floor. I check them both for anything that could help us along the way. In the right pocket of the burnt one is a key so I take it.

"I'd recommend you take the unburnt armor. You kind of melt the other guy's.

I take a seat in a nearby chair, as I relax.

"And you intend to watch me?"

"Isn't that what the other room is for?" I say mocking fake confusion. She glances at me for a few seconds as if confused.

"I guess all men aren't barbarians." She mutters walking into the previous room.

Minutes later she walks out in full Storm Cloak dress.

"Finally, "I say "let's go kill some Storm Cloaks!"

A/N: That would be a finish. I want to say that first I'll only be writing in Elderscrolls for this chapter and the next and maaaaaaaaaaybe another chapter but the last is unlikely. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I'm out(until the next chapter) J


	4. Codex

Magic Progression and Development

 **Destruction**

Flames:

-Can change direction

-Can change size

-Can change temperature

Frostbite:

-Lessens physical damage output of the target(Minor)

-Weakens armor(Minor)

-Slows target(Minor)

Sparks:

-Can cause additional burn damage(20% of base damage)

-Can paralyze target(3% chance)

-Can make enemies drop weapons

Fire Bolt:

-Chance to deal ½ damage on a close miss(20%)

-Travels 2x faster

-Can paralyze inorganic targets(5%)

Ice Spike:

-Can break bones, crippling target permanently

-Breaks down armor of target

-Causes additional "Freezer Burn" damage

Lightning Bolt:

-Can paralyze target(40%)

-Can kill instantly(.1%)

-Can light target on fire

Fireball:

-Will blind & deafen enemy on direct hit

-Will "Blow Back" enemies of physics threshold is passed

-Can be shaped(Increases all effects, but only within a localized direction

Whirlwind:

-Can throw target if physics threshold is passed

-Can freeze water(100%)

-Can blind unprotected eyes(25%)

Chain lightning:

-Can travel through conductive surfaces for 20x chain distance

-Can paralyze targets(25%)

-Can instantly kill(5%)

Fire Cloak:

-Can be placed around specific body parts

-Can propel physical attacks faster

-Grants 50% reduction in ice damage

Ice Cloak:

-Decreases damage taken

-Increases physics threshold

-Grants 50% reduction in fire damage

Lightning Cloak:

-Can be shaped into any form

-Increases damage by 75%

-Increases physical damage reduction by 25%

Incinerate:

-Can melt target(10%)

-If a target gets lit on fire it can spread to other targets(50%)

-Can penetrate targets

Thunder Bolt:

-Can vaporize targets(10%)

-Can instantly kill(20%)

-Will jump to any target within 15m

Fire Storm:

-Takes much less time to cast

-Can be redirected into a ball or blast to strike at a distance

-Will incinerate 60% of the time

Blizzard:

-100% chance to throw average targets

-Acts as a bubble shield, blocking projectiles

-Takes much less time to cast

Lightning Storm:

-Can be casted 1 handed but deals ¼ damage

-Absorbs energy from target, which can be stored in reserve

-Causes slight bonus radiation damage

A/N First, I'm sorry I've not posted. I've been busy with balancing all the attacks. I also have about ½ a chapter typed up. Granted it is about 700 words so far.

Second, I may not post frequently because I'm kinda OCD about my writing. I felt the previous chapters we're mediocre at best so I decided to put waaaay more focused on getting the characters to not be OP or carbon copies of each other and to be interesting and fun. Also while I'm writing the story I'm going to also be posting thing like this.

Third, My reason for this is because Skyrim's magic sucked. Plain and simple. If I add some features to each spell so they would have their own uses. Such as not using Incinerate in CQC like (Don't Lie any mage has done it) it was a sword. While you may use Ice cloak in close quarters while mowing down enemies, If you we're an assassin you would use the lightning cloak for the extra damage. Lastly, I will be posting more of these because I can pump this out in 1 hour. And don't worry there will be the next chapter in a few weeks.


	5. Not A Happy Day

**Restoration**

Healing:

-Heals ONLY surface wounds.

-Can heal others(Replaces healing hands)

-Slowly cures minor poisons

Lesser Ward:

-Protects against all damage types

-Will take moderate damage before breaking

-Chance to deflect incoming projectiles(10%)

Fast Healing:

-Cures moderate poisons instantly

-Heals extra damage after original effect (Like a free healing spell for 5s)

-Heals deeper damage

Steadfast Ward:

-Acts like shield(Can bash with it.)

-One time cast(Like conjured weapons)

-Drains magika based on the strength of the attack dealt to it

Sunfire:

-Blinds nearby targets

-Stays in the place it landed for 3s

-Paralyzes small machines

Close Wounds:

-Heals almost all damage but broken bones and punctured organs

-Cures very deadly poisons

-Cures some diseases

Greater Ward:

-Surrounds caster, acting as a line of defense before armor

-Drains magika based on the strength of attack

-Massive defense boost

Stendarr's Aura:

-Blinds targets

-Increases melee damage by 40%

-Burns close targets while healing close allys

Guardian Circle:

-Blinds enemies inside circle

-Burns enemies inside circle

-Boosts ally's damage inside circle

Grand Healing:

-Heals ALL allies machine or undead

-Resets bones; fixes organs

-Absorbs non-sentient life for a boost in magika to the caster

2 Years Later…

Alex grabbed a wrench from the tool kit and finished the tightened the final bolt on the Mk4 exoskeleton, his finely tuned ears picking up the small buzz that signaled a visitor at his door. He picked himself up and left his work room as it was called though to him it was a hobby. He calmly opened his front door, smiling at the face in front of him.

"Ah, Valera. Come in."

"I see you've been busy." She commented at the state of my living room.

"This is how you get the best new toys." Alex led the elven dragonborn to his work place. The room was a large 24x16x10, containing many machines and arcane inventions. Most of which Valera had no clue what they did.

"Enjoying the blank check?" she asked rhetorically

The two longtime friends walked through the maze of a workshop until reaching an elevator that was previously hidden behind the mountains of tech.

"Down there is the hardest of my projects." Alex said with a mix of pride and shame.

"I still haven't perfected it. It in almost every aspect complete but I can't contain the exotic particles produced. The biggest problem is that if I turn it on the atoms around it keep changing mass. I can't use magic on it until I know exactly how it works. I need to collect more samples of it but I can't risk turning the reactor on."

"Please tell me this is not going where I think it is."

"Someone has to go."

"Ugh, just… call me every few days or I'm coming in after you."

' _System, materialize combat suit… let's go with 4.'_

Valera watched as her friend prepared for his journey. It seemed like a simple thing. But the meaning behind this 'trip' was a lot more than she could understand. He had lost most of everything he owned at twenty then spent the next ten years trying to figure out who was responsible. Only to be working for him. Alex appeared to be unbroken but Valera knew that he still harbored the pain inside. She knew he worked to keep his mind off it. That wound never healed he balled his feelings up and forgot them. Hopefully he would find something on the other side.

Alex finished putting on his gear on, sliding his hood on. Putting his revolver in the holster and attaching his shield generator belt on before heading to his normal sized generator room. He moved towards the computer to the right and moved the location of the matter bridge setting it in the middle if the room. He set it to close once he got on the other side. The generator room had assortments of wires hanging from the roof, all swaying in the massive winds inside the room. The portal was starting to warp a little so he hurried towards it. Once he entered everything went black.

"Uuuuuugh I forgot how much that's supposed to hurt"

Alex got up and brushed off his cloak.

' _System, are there any basic radio signals in range?'_

' _Yes, Calculating… Two Thousand Seven Hundred And Twelve Different Wavelengths present. Though only Seventeen are unencrypted'_

Alex shrugged off the info to bring up his wrist-pad, the display leading him to the closest source of the exotic particle. As he traveled onward he thought of its possible applications. If it could change mass that could…

"Why can't anything be easy?"

As Alex had looked up the loud crackle of fire assaulted his ears. It was a house. The two story wooden house looked to be sum great years old. Did they burn it to demolish it? He saw a small stuffed bear on a simple wooden chair.

* Flashback *

"Mommy?"

"Yes honey?"

"Can I go play with Lizzy?"

"Once you've put away your toys darling."

"Why does she have a daddy?"

"That's a story for another time. Go play with Lizzy."

"Mommy, why are you crying?"

"Go play with Lizzy."

"But…"

"No butts."

"Yes Ma'am."

* Flashback End *

Alex shook his he made his way through the molten door.

' _Alert: Ambient temperature exceeds 700 degrees Fahrenheit or 371 Celsius.'_

" _Got it"_

Alex walked at a much faster pace, feeling the heat start to penetrate his armor. He made his way upstairs following the element's trail.

"Mommy?"

Alex froze.

"No… I… I must be hearing things." Alex said in a shaky voice

He walked a few more steps while rubble crashed behind him, blocking his way.

"Mommy I'm scared."

"I need to know where you are!"

But another voice responded, this one much older, around mid-20's to be exact.

"Is anyone there? If anyone is listening find my daughter and get her to safety first!"

"I will!" Alex screamed at the top of his lungs

He rapidly searched each room for the daughter finally entering the third room that appeared to be a child's room. He searched everywhere for the child. He checked under the bed as a desperate guess to find a child passed out underneath it. With a sigh of relief he coated her in an Ice Cloak, protecting her from the scorching flames. Alex picked her small body up and threw himself out the 2nd story window. The house finally collapsing after the flames ate what was left of the house's supports. He released the cloak from the girl and laid her down on the soft grass. In the background he noticed firetruck esc vehicles spewing water at the already done for house. He looked down at the girl at his feet, noticing burns all over her so he casted healing on her. Afterward he picked her up and… wait why is his wrist-pad beeping? He shifted his arm two and fro to make sure his reading we're right. She had a large amount of it in her body. She was the source.

"Well crap."

A/N: I tried to get this out sooner but I couldn't find the right way to capture the setting but this song kinda got me in that mindset. Let me know how I did. And here is the link: watch?v=JXGcyVZ_Bog

Also I have Biiiiiiiig plans for the alteration school of magic. Heheheheheh. * Rubs hands together diabolically *

Anywho

SEE YA!


	6. Space magic well not the space part

Alex continued to swipe his scanner over the girl to make sure he was right. He was getting confused by his readings. She was radiating enough of what he detected to kill a normal person several times over.

'System can you check and see what is taking the authorities so long?'

'Look Up'

'What could it possi-' Alex half asked his nanite system as he looked up.

His jaw dropped as he finally looked up at the night sky. There as a massive one-kilometer dreadnought on fire falling through the atmosphere, debris being flung off in massive chunks. He picked the girl up as he continued towards the nearby city. He slowly got a grip of himself and started to run.

'How many?'

'Sir, The Best Guess Is Six Hundred'

'Who did this?'

'While I Have Not Had Time To Analyze The Data, I Do Know One Thing, They Are Not Human.'

Alex felt his rage surface as he picked up pace, magical aura pulsing around him. He rushed at a pace that no normal human could reach. As he made his way to the nearest sign of civilization, a large city at the outskirts of the horizon.

Alex slowed down as he made his way through the ruins of a city. He felt a pang in his chest at the thought of hundreds like this girl.

'There are s-' was all SySteM could say before Alex was pulled down by an arm. The arm belonged to a Caucasian male with an average build wearing some strange formfitting armor with a gas mask covering his mouth and a small crop of orange hair. He was on the ground in a split second. His ears briefly picked up on a group of clicks and hisses. With this he gave up any thought of protest instantly and listened… next were heavy footsteps. The footsteps were so close that both could hear the slight crunch of the gravel under the boots of the aliens. A minute later the footsteps died down making way for an unsettling silence. Alex got up along with the stranger. The stranger then motioned for Alex to follow him. Alex watched as the stranger walked away not even waiting for an answer. Alex followed the man for a few minutes before coming to a basement of what looked to be an air-car dealership. In there he was slightly surprised to see a small shuttle that looked like a custom order. The man put his hand on the door wherein the surface glowed briefly before sliding open to reveal an airlock. Both men briefly stood in it as the outside door closed triggering a decontamination cycle. After the loooong wait both men entered the shuttle to see medical equipment strung makeshift around the shuttle. Alex set down the child in one of the three beds that they had lying around. By the time Alex put her down the man was pulling his gas mask off.

Alex decided to pull his hood down and with a hiss he pulled his helmet off. This revealed his features. Alex was a slightly tan 6'1 Caucasian male with thick long hair that well passed his shoulders. He had a clear well defined jawline, his eyebrows were somewhat thick but not overly so. His left eyebrow was thinned slightly towards the center of his face due to a faint scar from a close encounter with a bullet from his journeys. His eyes were a dark hazel with flares of a brownish rust color in twenty or so lines that spread out from the pupil. He had a medium sized nose that didn't affect his overall look. His mouth was normal sized but it was rarely fully seen due to his constant frowning. Overall, Alex looked like he had seen plenty action but, had not been in the military for a while.

The two sized each other up for a while before the man smiled and put his hand forward. Alex shook the man's hand and spoke up.

"Thanks for back there. I'm Alex."

"No problem. I couldn't let you both get captured. They've taken so many as is. Name's Grey."

Grey looked at the door to the cockpit before calling out.

"Alice! We've got company."

A few seconds later a woman in a nurse outfit burst out with one of those fake rubber chickens and a curling iron looking ready to kill. Once she realized that the company was friendly, she lowered out of a makeshift combat stance and relaxed.

"So… can anyone please unsee that?" both Alex and Grey shook their heads and earned a sigh "Figures."

"I'm Alice. And who might you be?" Alice asked as she stepped towards the new arrival. She stared him down… hard. Her face was serious and her eyebrows furrowed. She looked at his face close up causing him to reel back slightly. She finally stopped her investigation by standing up straight and looking at Grey.

"I'll give him a chance." Alice said with still squinted eyes

Alex raised an eyebrow, but none the less remained silent. He looked at both people for a few seconds before speaking up.

"Is the girl okay?" Alex asked with a slight amount of concern in his voice. The girl was the reason he was here in the first place.

"Give me a sec." The wom- Alice picked up a notepad before an orange glow covered her arm. It took Alex a few seconds to notice that it was a personalized holographic display.

'Damm, System can you find the schematics for that?'

'One Moment Sir. Uploading To your visor.

Alex watched as the images flew across his vision. They were complex but not too advanced. The only thing that he saw being a problem was that it required something called 'Element Zero'

One of the scanners in the pilot's area started beeping. Grey walked past Alex to the scanner with a sigh before he spoke.

"F***! They followed us!"

* * *

Alex immediately reacted, grabbing his gear just as some weird bird things blew open the front of the shuttle.

Grey slowly tried to stand but failed miserably. His ears were ringing, his head felt like it had been crushed by a horse, and he couldn't see a damm thing with how blurry his vision was. As he got up, he slowly was greeted with more of his senses. He could barely make out an outline of a knight. The knight had a large tower shield. It was protecting them. Where did… Grey shook the fog from his mind and stood up still a little shakily. His vision cleared to see that Alex guy holding his hands out while the alien bird-brains were firing at them. His hearing back, Grey wondered why there wasn't any pinging. Alex took another pose. This time with one fist held forward while the other looked like he was going to punch them. He can't punch them!

Alex brought his fist forward, like an actual punch. Then they all fell, their armor torn to shreds from what appeared to be mass accelerator weaponry. Grey stood shocked. What the hell did he do? Grey turned right to see his sister Alice to be just now recovering from the explosion. Alex touched the back of the knight as if trying to see if it was real. Grey got up and walked around the knight. Once he came to the other side he nearly jumped as he saw two cold, red lights staring back at him.

Alex turned back to see Grey staring at his dark knight. Well… f***. He guessed that magic didn't exist here by the way Grey looked at his knight. Alex sighed before approaching Grey and tapping him on the shoulder.

"So… I take it you've got questions?" Alex asked in a semi-lighthearted tone

"Uh, yeah… how did you even do this?!" Grey asked as Alice walked over to the conversation

"I think the more important question is CAN WE DO THAT!" Alice asked jumping up and down repeatedly

Grey looked over to Alice like she was crazy. Alex understood how he felt. His first time seeing magic in Skyrim left him in disbelief. Then a year into his new life Rochelle decided that she needed Alex's help. That sent him on a whole new adventure in Fiore with the Fairy Tail guild. He smiled at the memory of the wild bunch. He blinked away the memory, focusing on the moment at hand.

"-ou crazy! I mean it has to be some trick, Magnets or something!" Grey was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"So… Alice, did you find anything interesting with the scan?" Alex interrupted

Alice looked down a second before mumbling "Yes."

"Then what's wrong with her?" Grey asked confused

"Her DNA weird."

"Don't drag it out. What is wrong with her DNA? You know what, just show me." Alex asked getting more annoyed

He grabbed Alice's arm opening the hologram-glove-thing. He looked at the DNA profile. His vision got blurry for a second. He felt his throat go dry. He looked at the girl in the bed for a second. He saw it then; her hair was very dark brown with streaks of platinum. He had thought it was just some highlights. He took of his helmet and felt something wet on his cheeks. He touched it only to find he was crying. 'Crying?' He thought back to the woman in the fire. Her voice was familiar.

"Oh God… no." Alex said as it all came together

"What?" both Grey and Alice asked

"She can't be alive! Summres killed her!" Alex fell to his knees as he thought of his childhood friend, girlfriend, and later wife. "She stayed with the bomb! I saw it go! I… heard her last words." He finished just over a whisper

"Get Summres, I'll survive this. I don't know how, but these won't be my final words to you. Especially since I'm not the only one you're going to have to care for now."

They were the reason he had kept fighting. The only reason…

"She's my daughter. I thought my wife died in an explosion 9 years ago. Now I've got hope." He said with a smile as he stood up

"What's up with the wacked out DNA then?" Grey asked

"Well, that is a bit more complex." Alex said before continuing "I'm kinda not from around… here"

"We kind of guessed that." Grey stated

"I'm… can I explain it later?"

"Fine. We've got to get out of here anyway. I'm surprised to see that the bird brains haven't come here with all the gunfire and all." Grey responded, giving Alex the general feel of Grey. He's a downer.

* * *

A/N: well that's all I've got for now. I've had trouble writing this due to all the stuff that's been going on. Eh that is for another time.

See y'all next time. :D


	7. One hell of a brain freeze

Alex blinked as he woke up. He had the mother of all headaches. He immediately brought his hand to his head. He tried to look around only to see black. He tried to use his ears, but only got a ringing with a buzz that he felt he could almost make out…

"Buuuzzzzzz Buzz Buzz, buz-buz- Alex!?" A familiar voice came through "Alex, are you okay?"

He felt genuine concern in the voice. He brought his hands out, trying to grab the figure. He felt a well-defined female arm with his right hand, and to his dismay, a hard metal mound with his left. He tried to speak and only managed a very weak:

"Sh-it"

His world changed from black to whit as he felt a blinding pain on his face. Thankfully, this fixed his eyesight. He fell to the floor with a thud, his eyes opening to see an old friend.

"I spend 25 years finding you, and the first thing you do is cop a feel?" The long-time companion asked sarcastically

He smiled as let out a raspy laugh. He held his hand out very slowly and shakily.

"In-jec-tor." He made out in low rasps

His companion stared at him confused, before briefly the look of realization hit her. She pulled out a thin futuristic tube with a gray metallic liquid in it, handing it to him. Alex took the tube with one hand before violently jamming it into his heart. He then pushed the button on the injector, nearly instantly leashing the substance into his body. His body tensed as it felt like his body was tearing itself apart. The sight alarmed the woman and she began asking questions at a speed incoherent, in his state. He turned to his side as he heaved for a few seconds before a mass of black past drained of his mouth. He shook for a few seconds as he threw up the last of the black slag-like substance. He, then, sat up and took a few breaths before speaking.

"Thank you… Valera."

"It was no problem. Besides, I ran out of new toys."

"So that's all I'm worth to you?" he chuckled out

She smiled.

"Of course it is. You only just learned that?"

"Yeah, yeah, now can you explain how I got here?" he asked half-jokingly

Valera put a finger to the corner of her mouth in thought.

"Well you see… there was this guy with 10 i-" Valera half got out before being interrupted.

Shepard stepped around the corner with her gun primed as her squad consisting of Garrus and Wrex made its way through the Cerberus facility on the planet Sarait in the Thal System, Shrike Abyssal Cluster.

The facility, according to Intel, was working on a project they called Project Saint. Shepard walked down the hall to see an office to her right. She stood by the door and nodded to Garrus and Wrex. Wrex stood back and fired a _Carnage_ shot, shredding the door. The squad rushed in to find the room empty except for a terminal on a desk. Shepard lifted her pistol and tapped a few keys with her left hand.

 ** _*Journal begins*_**

 ** _"_** ** _Log 1: Why are we even here? The boss has us watching over a cryo-pod. The pod seems to contain a live human, which isn't anything new."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Log 2: Subject shows no major abnormalities. Also, we need to change the air filter. The lab has smelled of bacon for several days."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Log 3: Subject is showing signs of self-attempted resuscitation. We now have to pump a steady supply of antiesthetic to keep the subject in a comatose state."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Log 4: The boss has allowed us to scan the subject. Hopefully we can get some answers about the subject's self_** - ** _resuscitation. Also… lab still smells of bacon."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Log 5: *BOOM* Dammit! A lone figure has broken in. I'm *BOOM* uploading my research data to Cronos. We've discovered some interesting anomalies the subject. The boss needs to see this. Wha- NO! ARUG!"_**

 ** _*Journal ends*_**

Shepard looked at Garrus for any ideas.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm not 'Ms. I Must Save the Galaxy'." The Turian spoke in his dual flanged voice

"You're no fun." She pouted

"Are we going to sit here or am I going to get some target practice?" Wrex gruffly asked

Shepard sighed at Wrex and continued out of the room. She came upon a door that was labeled _'Cryo-Pod Room'._ She pressed a few keys on the console linked with the door before seeing it whoosh open.

"-en inch dick."

Shepard had a hard time not laughing as she came behind the group.

"Stop, I know you're there." Came the male's voice

Shepard walked around the corner to enter a fairly empty room with a Cryogenics' pod connected to a console. The only unique thing in the room was two people, one a thin built man with long brown hair down past his shoulders. The second one was the one that took the cake. The second one was a woman who, by all regards, looked like a walking tank. She had a suit of armor that at least looked 600lbs. The armor was black with dull red lines, softly pulsating as if the suit was alive. Said woman had a giant sword that appeared to be at least 6ft in length. Shepard tried to gleam any other details, but came at a dead end. The woman was in a full set, including a helmet.

"Who are you?" the man who looked to be no more than 23 spoke

"I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance military." Shepard answered in her 'Commander Voice' as the crew liked to call it

"Cool, now can you tell me where I am?"

"Sarait, Thal System. I can get you safe on the Normandy. Lady Tank, can you help the guy to the ship?" Shepard asked directed at the woman in heavy armor

"I'm only going once you answer one question. What the _fuck_ are you doing with one of _them_?" Alex spat out with a look of unrefined fury

"What?" Shepard asked taken aback by the sudden change in tone. She recognized it all too well

"How could you have one of those monsters with you?" Alex sneered pointing at Garrus

"The First Contact War is over. The Council made the Turians pay reparations for Shanxi. There is no reason for racism." Shepard replied trying to diffuse the situation

"You didn't see what _I_ saw…" Alex trailed off, staring off into space

"What year is it?" Shepard asked indulging a crazy thought

"You don't know what year it is?" Alex asked incredulously

"Indulge me."

"2154." Alex said as if it was common sense

Garrus, who was starting to get pissed at the man's antics, did a tiny double take as he heard that date. This man witnessed the relay 314 incident…

Garrus and Shepard looked at each other, sharing one thought.

' _Poor him_ '

"It's not 2154." Shepard awkwardly shuffled out

"Sure, and my name is Dick Tracy." Alex sarcastically replied

"Alex, you should listen to her…" Valera pointed out gently

Alex turned towards her with a look of despair.

"You mean…" he said as he broke

Valera looked at him. He shouldn't be acting like this. He had seen the sick things that the Thalmor had done to people and didn't lose an hour of sleep. Something _bad_ must have happened.

"What happened?" She asked in a stern tone with a mass of worry hidden underneath. She and Alex had grown a brother/sister relationship over the years and she had yet to see him so… _destroyed._

"I found my daughter, and then those **bastards** took her from me. I'll tell you later, but I've got to find Cerberus for now. They are first on my hit list."

Alex motioned for Valera to help him up. She, of course, obliged.

"You don't have to do it alone…" Came Shepard's voice

"Is that an offer?" Alex asked

"Yes." Shepard deadpanned

"Then I guess you want something in return?" Alex smiled dryly

"I'm hunting a rogue Turian Spectre named Saren. I'm going to take him down. Help me with that, and we'll call it even. We've got more Intel on Cerberus than anyone else. You're choice."

"Hmm… one last question. Why are you risking me in the first place? I've got an obvious hate towards Turians. What gives?"

"Well, I'm sure you can get over your discontent." Came her reply as she just walked away, her squad following her without a word.

"Eh, what?" Was all that Alex could get out as Shepard seemingly left him, as he urged Valera Forward, trying to catch up.

"Wait up!"

Alex was a little surprised to say the least. The Normandy was a fine ship. He had expected a slow clunky primitive ship, but this ship could give the average ship from his world a run for its money. Anyway, when Alex got aboard, Shepard had decided to take him to the crew quarters, to the annoyance of . As Valera was shown to her room, Alex unpacked what she had brought from Tamriel. Valera had most of his tools meant for repair, Daedric metal ingots ***** , his research equipment, along with a few potions. He then proceeded by dumping _everything_ in his Re-equip ***** dimension out onto his floor. He then folded all of his normal clothes and put them in the small dresser to the left of his bed. Then, he proceeded to hang up his melee weapons consisting of several swords, a few long knives, and a unique sword that Alex personally held in _very_ high regard.

His armor sets were put back in his Re-equip dimension, left for a later time. He then looked around, sifting through his junk. He was a pack-rat. He had something for every occasion, bottles, tools, scraps (of the metal variety), books, an enchanting table(No Joke), guns galore, ammo, and Dwarven Aetherion ***.** After he put his supplies away he sat down on his new desk, the metal warping slightly from his weight.

"You should lose some weight."

"Valera, you know full well that I'm not fat." Alex replied dryly

"That desk seems to be saying something to the contrary."

"Hardy har har."

"You want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Sure?"

"No."

"Well, if you want to go down to the gym, they have a sparring mat."

"And get my ass kicked?"

"Hey, you _may_ win this time." She said as she walked over and patted him on the back, nearly knocking him over.

"Why not, I'm game."

"That's the spirit!"

Alex was in full combat gear, as was Valera. The size difference was very apparent. Alex was 6'4 with medium armor. His armor designed to be able to protect him without getting in his way. His armor only increased his height by 3 inches. Valera, on the other hand, was a hulking monster. Her armor, if you could call it that, was massive. In armor she was 7'3, her armor one of Alex's strongest designs, she could lift an excess of one ton. The suit functioned more like a mech than armor, but he was getting of point. Her armor was very limited in terms of mobility, retaining around 80% of her range of motion.

"No shields or wards?" Alex asked

"Yeah, start in the count of 5?"

"Mm Hm, 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… GO!"

Alex got into a pose he knew well as he lowered himself close to the ground.

 ** _BassBeastJD- Pushing Higher Than the Sky (Original Composition)_**

Valera was the first to move, throwing a well-aimed punch at his diaphragm. Alex, using his superior speed, sidestepped it and counterattacked with a fist to the arm joint in her armor. The attack hit, dealing a good blow to Valera, but at a price. Alex's hand had lingered a little too long as Valera had grabbed it and was using it to keep him in close Melee distance. She grabbed Alex's face and brutally slammed it into the mat, denting the alloy behind it. He knew he was in a bad situation so he used a _telekinesis_ enhanced kick to send Valera off her feet as he pushed his advantage.

"TIID!" (Time) Alex shouted before rolling to his feet. Time was at a crawl. He could see Valera frozen with her arms out. She was leaned back on her toes. She was open to attack. Alex charged his attack, one made by him especially for Valera.

" _Eight way halberd…_ "

Alex brought his fists together and a blue light shone, like that of a dying star. A blue ethereal 6ft halberd formed in front of him, flaming like the fires from a nuclear weapon. He then readied his weapon and sprung forth:

 _"_ _STRIKE!"_

In the blink of an eye, Alex had slashed 7 times and was now going in for the 'kill'. He held his halberd forward and flashed forward, becoming a blur.

Time sped back up, as a blinding white light was thrown everywhere.

"Wow, you really got stronger."

Alex turned back to see Valera in her armor, which looked like it came out of a meat grinder and won.

"We calling it?" he asked

"Yeah…" she replied with a little disappointment

"So I finally beat you…"

"Well then, you need to build me a better suit."

"Sure… and go back to losing?" Alex asked sarcastically

"That's what I keep you around for, oh and by the way, ready to talk?"

Alex sighed.

"Fine."

A/N: So, that this chapter…

I hope you guys had a great holiday. I had a good bit of trouble writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed.

See ya next time.


	8. Getting Fired (Not Up)

Alex frowned as he sat in the Mako. He had always been weaker in combat than Valera. This didn't bode well for him. He mentally recounted his research on souls.

A person had three parts to them, the body, the soul, and the conscience. The conscience is shared by the body and the soul. Alex's soul, to his knowledge, was decaying. If it did, his conscience would be split in half. Sadly, this was stage 3 of 5. He shook those thoughts away as he ignored _what_ he would become. All that mattered was that he could end this hell. He created this mess and he'd be dammed (Not that he had any chance otherwise) if he didn't get to fix it. Dad would know what to do…

As the final squad mate shuffled in, Alex noticed that Valera wasn't in the Mako. Only what he guessed was a living tank and a slender suited figure. He lifted his head and examined both of the 'aliens'. He learned over the course of his fight on Shanxi that he wasn't 100% similar to the humans. Sure, they looked similar, but beyond that…

There were so many differences.

He didn't want to go into that right now. He just wanted to get this over with.

"Everybody ready?" Shepard asked with glee

Everybody gave their confirmation, from a nervous yes to a nonchalant grunt. Alex was the last to give his.

"Why the hell not? I ain't got much to live for…" Alex added sarcastically

"Good…"Shepard replied with a smile border lining a rape face

"Can I change my mind?" Came the nervous voice of the slender suited figure

Alex chuckled along with the tank, only for both to suddenly gulp as a massive wave of acceleration hit them. It felt like being strapped to a rocket. He felt a brief weightlessness before a jarring crash. Alex looked over to the tank to almost see him pale, which was quite a feat due to the massive scales it had. The lady on the other hand looked almost as if she had fainted. She was sprawled out in her seat. He saw her twitch before groggily brought herself back to 100%.

"We're here!" Shepard beamed

"Anyone dead?" Alex asked rhetorically only to get two groans out of the passengers

The Mako began to move forward, much to the dread of its passengers. And after a few minutes they felt the Mako lurch to one side with a 3 inch indentation ½ an inch from Alex's head. Alex jumped to the side of his seat as he looked at the bump.

"We got turrets! Wrex, man the secondary gun!" came Shepard's voice filled to the brim with excitement.

"Hi…" Came a nervous synthesized voice from Alex's left.

"First time in open combat?" Alex asked with a reassuring smile

"Yes, though I do know how to fight so I won't be a burden."

"I'm sure of that." Alex said lightheartedly as several booms echoed in the cabin

"What do you mean?"

"From what I've seen, Shepard seems to pick up the best of the best. Why would you be any exception?"

"I… guess you're right." She replied, back straightening slightly

Alex looked over at Shepard and asked "Hey Shep, when are we going to get to shoot some fools or what?"

"Hold your horses, we're almost there."

"Yeah, I could tell that by all the explosions."

Just as Alex said that, the Mako stopped. Alex smiled behind his helmet, pulling out one of his pistols.

"We're here."

Alex waited for everybody to get ready, and not a moment after opened the side door to the Mako. He, along with everybody else, followed Shepard out. They took cover behind the Mako, knowing that there was a group of enemies about 60ft away.

Alex leaned out, and fired. His first shot took out a rocket trooper. He didn't get a chance to fire again before two troopers that were too close together got hit with a singularity from Shepard. Then the ground shook as they seeming exploded out of nowhere. Alex turned to Shepard, confused. He squinted briefly to see the faint glow of biotics at the barrel of her gun.

Biotic bullets?

Alex shook his head before checking the battlefield again. To his surprise he only found the splat remains of what defending force there was.

"Area's clear." He remarked over the com

As if on que, they all walked towards the complex with a massive rocket sticking out of the end. Alex was the last to the door and waited for Shepard. After a few seconds, he saw Shepard's moves get exaggerated.

"Need help?" came the suited woman's voice

"*Sigh* …Yes." Shepard replied with a hiss

Alex took note as he watched Shepard and the suited woman switch places. The person, which Alex now remembers to be a Quarian, hacked the door control in under 30s. Alex gave a quiet "Damm…" as he watched her open the door.

"Good work…" He genuinely complemented

It only took a moment for the room to pressurize before they walked to the second door. Everyone prepared for what was on the inside; the Krogan reloaded his shotgun while the Quarian deployed a small holographic drone. Alex glanced at Shepard who seemed to be in the calmest state possible as she hit the holographic switch.

The door pinged twice before giving them admittance. Upon entry, they heard two sets of voices.

"You know this can be a whole hell of a lot easier if you'd just give up for Spirit's sake…" Came a voice from a tired sounding Turian female

"You think I want to spend the rest of my life looking at a set of bars?" Came a deep breathless Batarian voice

"Who said you'd see the bars?" Came the Turian with some odd dry humor

"Over my dead body!" The Batarian roared

"What do you think I've been trying to do?!" She half screamed in frustration

Revelation mentally shook her head as she dodged a swing from the 7'4 Batarian. She knew he was supposed to be tall, but Spirits! She dropped into a crouch as she hit 3 pressure points in his legs before throwing his weight to the ground for the 20th time. How many times had she tried to end it like this only for him to get out of her hold? She sighed as he gained control of his legs an unnaturally fast speed and kicking her 15 feet away.

She tried to get up, but realized that her target was already picking her up by her throat. She gasped as she felt the slow buildup of CO2 in her lungs which urged her to breath. She snapped as her training kicked in. She calmed down, and slowed her heartrate. She knew this would give her precious extra time to think of a way to get out of this. She needed something… anything… a distraction! What would it be? She's got her omnitools, but she didn't want to risk killing herself with some of the… explosive apps. Wait… Batarians have 4 eyes! Bright lights probably hurt like a bitch to them! She glanced down at her Omnitool as she opened the flashlight app and pumped as much power as she could into it as the tool would allow. After a few seconds she felt it vibrate, signaling that the tool was done with her request. She then set it to flash repeatedly which almost immediately earned another buzz. Good…

She brought her hand up to his eyes and clicked the button. This earned her the sweet O2 she sod desired as well as a roar of pain as the Batarian covered his literally boiling eyes. Revelation immediately croaked out a simple: "FLASHLIGHT BIIIIIIIICH!" as she prepared an incinerate.

She clicked the button, sending a medium sized ball of plasma hurtling after her target. He went from grabbing his eyes to flapping his arms around like a bird, trying to pat out the flames. She chuckled before launching a Cryoblast at him. This turns him into a living(?) popsicle. She took a sigh of relief as she checked her bank balance. She'd hit 3 million credits soon. She put her tool down as she walked to her former target, Shel'Nam, a notorious Batarian pirate who was claimed to be invincible in combat.

"Pft, you haaaaad to be difficult didn't you…" She said as she patted him on the frozen shoulder

"Eh, time for my selfie!" She continued to herself as she clapped before she put an arm around Shel'Nam only for his right arm to fall off

"Well… Shit." She sighed out as she tried to stick it back on and only succeeding after the third attempt

"Yeah, I'd like you to keep that of you don't mind." She said as she got back in position

She held her Omnitool if front of her as a brief flash and click signified that the picture was captured. Not soon after, the arm fell off again. Instead of putting it back on she gave a gentle push to the Peepsicle, as she called it, causing it to fall and shatter into a mass of frozen Shel'Nam.

She heard the clicking of boots she ended it with a final one-liner:

"This new look suits you well." She spoke to the shattered bits of frozen meat.

"Man, who the hell made this maze of cargo-crates?!" Came the voice of a human male as a group of people came into view

"I know right?!" Revelation replied with equal emotion as she evaluated how much of a threat they were.

They did the same until the human woman broke the silence.

"Uh… I'm glad for the help, but what is a Turian doing here?"

"You're welcome and I'm here for the Expel 10 concert." Revelation replied, voice dripping with sarcasm

"Okay, I get that you're here to kill… whatever that's in chunks on the floor, but that doesn't answer my question. _Why_ are you on an asteroid killing Batarians?" The woman asked with a sigh

"I'm here for that small thing that makes the galaxy go round'…"

"I guess you're not talking about happiness. So _yay,_ you're a merc."

"Not just any, you may've heard of me. The name's Revelation… well the merc one not the real one."

"Well, I'll be dammed. Who could've known the 'great' Revelation was such a whelp?" said the Krogan as he used the human expression that she identified as 'air quotes'.

"I'd like to see you to kill a Batarian that I swear somehow grew up Krogan… oh wait, you _can't_."

The Krogan flared up with a mild flash of anger with a twinge amusement. The woman stepped forward between her and the Krogan. This said one of two things… either she's stupid, or she's strong. She definitely had that aura around her.

"You here to kill these guys too?" Revelation casually asked, kicking a bit of Shel'Nam up and tossing it over some crates

"Yeah, we need to stop them from ramming this asteroid into a human colony." The woman said

"I was hired to take out Shel'Nam, which I assume you see in his chunky glory, but I was also hired to wipe the asteroid clean of Batarians. "

"Good, at least we've got friendly company…"

"So you're here for the same reason?"

"I guess so."

Alex briefly stared at the mercenary Revelation. After seeing what Turians were capable of, he just wanted to keep his distance. He'd just rather not have to deal with them any time soon. He flipped the hood on his cloak on his head as he walked with the group, Revelation falling close behind. He glanced at the door that Shepard opened. He was confused as to why they were heading there. Hadn't they turned off the fusion torch already?

"What sweet loot do you have for me~" came Shepard's voice as he heard banging

"Will you stop?! I can open it for you…" Said the Quarian as he saw he tear Shepard off of the container

"Are you guys seriously doing this _now_? Alex sighed out

"Why don't you get that stick out of your ass for a moment to think," she paused "Think of it: there could be _loot_!"

Alex face-palmed, and wondered if he chose the right person to help him track down Cerberus.

" _Loot_?" Alex asked, voice tense

"Yes, _loot._ " Shepard instantly replied

"Just… hurry…" He ended, trying to calm himself

Alex waited a few minutes as he went over past events in his head. His life seemed impossible to say the least, but he took solace in the fact that he'd end this journey soon enough. He absentmindedly tossed a pebble that he dug out of his boot. As he tossed it up, he briefly heated it each time it hit his hand again. This became almost therapeutic as he felt his stress melting into the pebble. The next time the pebble came down Alex felt a blinding hot pain where it hit. His hand shot away as he looked at the pebble confused.

"What th-"Alex briefly muttered before he saw the rock or what the rock was.

He noticed that the rock he was looking at was now a red hot goop on the floor. He looked at his burnt hand as he noticed the pebble-sized scorch on the material of his glove. Alex sighed; this was another predicted sigh of stage 3…

Alex shook off his mortality as he saw Shepard and the rest of the group (Including Revelation) with their arms full. He sighed as he lazily looked at them.

"Ya' done?" he asked with a small drawl

"Yes, thank you very much." Shepard said with mock serious nod

Alex shook his head as they all headed to the exit. They quickly made their way through the dead bodies outside of the facility, and into the Mako. It was a tight squeeze, but everybody mad it in along with the loot. Alex dared to think of what would happen if they found even more. He shuddered at the thought.

Upon reaching the second building, they quickly took out the defenses around the torch, but Alex jerked in his seat as a blaring voice filled the Mako cabin.

"ALERT, ALERT, GROUND PENETRATING RADAR DETECTS EXPLOSIVE MINES IN CLOSE PROXIMITY!"

That almost blew out his ear drums. He brought his hand up an-

"ALERT, ALERT, GROUND PENETRATING RADAR DETECTS EXPLOSIVE MINES IN CLOSE PROXIMITY!"

"SHEPARD, SHUT THAT THING THE FUCK UP OR I WILL!" Alex roared over the VI

"ALERT, ALERRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttt" The VI's voice died as Shepard cut the wires powering it and set it to notify the pilot's display.

"Thank you." Alex said cheerfully, earning the Turian equivalent of a snort from Revelation and a giggle from the Quarian

"We're going to have to go out on foot…" Shepard informed

"Good, I need to work off some steam…" remarked the Krogan

"You might want to keep that to yourself…" Revelation commented, earning a grunt from the Old Krogan

Alex shook his head as he heard this. She sure did joke a lot. He could see why in this profession. You needed to have a good sense of humor to deal with some of the stuff you see. Alex smiled as he remembered his life before all this. It was peaceful…

Alex was brought to the now by a simple tap on the shoulder from Shepard. He gave her a quick nod as he let go of his previous thoughts and entered the second building, airlock sealing behind him.

Alex brought his pistols out of their holster and readied them. The group advanced as the airlock door opened. They entered the first room, noticing it was empty, they continue to the next one. They stopped at this door as they heard Batarian voices in the other room.

"I heard that Station 1 just went dark, isn't that where Shel'Nam was?"

"Yeah, but that guy's invincible. He'll take 'em out!"

Alex let out a small snort as he looked at Revelation. She gave a light hearted stare back that said:

"Bitch, I'm awesome."

Alex's attention was drawn away as Shepard quietly opened the door and everybody shuffled in, including the Krogan. It was a hilarious sight to see a 700lb+ Krogan trying to sneak. Meanwhile, said Krogan had a look of pure fury as he sat crouched. Shepard, noticing this, stood up and plainly shot one of the 10 or so Batarians in the building.

"Have at 'em." Shepard casually said, walking away

Everybody but the Krogan held back for a second, all thinking the same thing:

"What th-" only to have that thought disrupted by seeing said Krogan working his way through their enemies, sometimes even _literally_ tearing them limb for limb.

"Way to go!" Revelation cheered as the Krogan put a biotically enhanced fist through a Batarian

"Talk about a fisting…" Alex found that he muttered to himself

Revelation was ecstatic as she watched the Krogan tear people apart. This was a once in a lifetime event, seeing the great Urdnot Wrex in action.

"Way to go!" she cheered as she pumped her fists into the air as she saw him impale someone with his fists

"Talk about a fisting…" the cloaked man next to her muttered

Revelation had barely caught what he said.

"So true…" She said in mock fancy

They both held back as they continued watch.

Wrex was _really_ tearing into them.

Revelation looked at the cloaked man. She wasn't really hired to take out _a-_ Damm~

A slug whizzed by her head as she again glanced at the cloaked man. He seemed to be familiar to her. She'd _knew_ she'd seen him before, but where? She shook her head and decided to save that thought for later. She was getting bored just wa-

All of the Batarians, she realized, were dead…

"That sucks…"She groaned out

She wanted to get a few kills at least… She shrugged her shoulders before popping her back. Wrex, who was covered in blood and guts, made his way to the exit. They all met up there before exiting the station, wary of the mines. Once they made it to the Mako, the hatch opened up and bid them entrance. They piled in to find the Quarian and The Commander already enjoying a nice song and a omni-game, The Commander appearing to be losing quite bad.

The commander, realizing the rest of the squad was back, closed the game and swiveled her chair over the Haptic Display. Not soon after everyone buckled in, the Mako began moving to the third and final station.

Alex zoned out as they traveled to the final torch. This was one of the more boring parts of doing missions. There wasn't much to do either way. No enemies approached them until they got within a _very_ close distance to the station. Alex noted that the resistance was surprisingly light on this station.

He brought his hand to his Wrist-pad as he tried to strengthen his shields. He had a feeling that the opposition was going to higher than before; He also casted a Greater Ward around himself as a backup shield. It wouldn't hold long if he used his magika unnecessarily. He did all of this as silently as possible. He really didn't want people asking questions…

The Mako stopped in front of the final station. Everyone, from what he could see, was a little cautious. They probably noticed the lack of external defense too…

Wordlessly, they all exited. Shepard, from what he could tell, was getting slightly anxious. She seemed to be that way since the beginning of the mission…

Alex mentally noted to look up why. During his thinking they had made their way in to the building. It was identical to the other with the exception of the fact that the center area was _massive_. This building was easily 2.5x the size of the other buildings. That was strange. Why build this building so big, especially on an asteroid? His thoughts were interrupted by Shepard's callout.

"Contacts ahead."

This got several confirmations from the group as they advanced. They continued until they were stopped by a few stray projectiles. Alex noticed there wasn't much cover until they got halfway into the room. Alex realized that they were screwed unless they found cover.

"I'll distract them, you guys find cover!" He roared over the sound of gunfire

The group made their way right as Alex headed left. With little cover to find, he had to be creative. He could only find a simple plant. The plant wasn't what interested him; it was what was holding it that sparked his interest. The plant had a thick looking pot that was barely large enough to get behind. As soon as he noticed this he ran, his shield took the brunt of the damage and was lowered to around 65%. Once his shields recharged, he poked his head out from the plant. He checked his surrounding to find 8 Batarians aiming at his cover. No wonder his shields dropped so fast…

He brought up his wrist-pad and forged a small amount of Copper Oxide. As he did so the Batarians kept firing away, chipping away at his cover. He scrapped a small bit of the pot noticing it was Aluminum. He quickly pot both back in his Wrist-Pad. The device mixed the two substances, forming the best thing he could think of right now:

Thermite

While it was a substance that wasn't too powerful compared to most explosives, it was still quite handy.

He stood out of cover and pointed at the Batarians, who stood confused. He fired the powder at the Batarians, turning them in a new reddish-white hue. Alex sparked the air with his Wrist-Pad and watched the fireworks unleash. A loud crack sook the room as the Thermite combusted and then proceeded to burn anything within the cloud.

His distraction had allowed Shepard and the rest of the squad to flank the remaining Batarians and wipe them out with ease. As Alex saw Shepard come over, he decided to brush the soot of his cloak.

"Like the distraction?" He asked with a smirk

"Yeah, what the hell was that loud-ass bang?" asked Shepard as she saw the entire area covered in a shade of black

"Sorry, it's a trade secret…"

"How about we shut off the torch?" Came the voice of the Quarian

"Right…" Alex replied as he began to make his way to the torch controls, turning them off

"Filthy humans..." a new voice spoke

The group drew their weapons on the Batarian. The lone figure surprisingly didn't look intimidated in the slightest. The Batarian was a small bit taller than average, reaching around 6'2. He wore armor that was similar in design to Alex's

Revelation looked at the Batarian. He had a sense of confidence that was quite shocking. He looked straight at the Human male, with a sense of contempt.

"Alexander Smith… I'm quite glad to see you here." He said with a malicious grin

"Who are you?" the human, who she guessed was named Alexander, said

"My name is Balak, and with the gift bestowed upon me I will destroy you."

Balak rushed the group, knocking everybody but Alex away with some invisible force. As Revelation got up she reached for her gun only to be stopped by Balak's words.

"If any of you interfere, what is left of the pitiful humans on this rock will die." He said while pulling out a small detonator

This stopped the group. They were trapped.

Revelation realized:

This was up to Alexander…

Alex stood in a relaxed posture, holstering his hand cannon. He sized Balak up. Alex didn't have to guess what Balak meant by 'gift'.

"It appears that Cerberus has been meddling in things that they don't belong to." Alex cryptically stated

"I may hate humanity, but with this gift I can make the Hegemony great again!" Balak's eyes narrowed "But I must kill you as payment for such a great gift."

Alex sighed as he looked at the Batarian. It was obvious that Cerberus had been meddling with Aetherion. He felt bad for Balak. He seemed to be a mess, twitching ever so often. He had all 4 eyes wide open as he stood in what Alex assumed was a Batarian martial arts stance. Alex responded by entering his own stance which he had developed during his time as a weapon's designer.

An unstable aura appeared around Balak. It looked like a mass of blue fiery sparks. Alex responded in kind, but Alex's was much softer. It was a similar color, but that was where the similarities ended. Alex's shone like a massive candle, gently flicking left to right at the top. After a few seconds, the aura developed small black streaks that would flash blue again briefly.

"So, this is the aura of the founder…" Balak spoke in slight awe

"You came here to fight, so let us do so." Alex stated, his voice gaining a hardness that wasn't there previously.

 ** _NOW PLAYING (BobGmbH: Bad Apple - Orchestral Version)_**

Alex pushed off and launched himself against Balak who had barely managed to cobble together a defense. Balak's aura spiked as he finally got his footing, throwing several blue covered punches.

They went on for a few seconds before they broke off. They began circling each other, trying to probe out a weakness in the other opponent. Alex was the first to strike, launching several fireballs from his hands. Balak barely managed to doge them, skimming by one and taking a nasty burn to his chest. He tried to launch a group of Aetherion projectiles, but found them to be too much for his body. He clutched his heart as he felt like it was beating out of his chest. Alex relaxed his pose, not even close to sweating.

"You can't beat me. Your soul is under massive strain just to keep up with me."

"I can beat any human!" Balak spat

"It doesn't change the fact that your Soul can't keep up with this kind of output. Your body is already breaking down." Alex stated, pointing to Balak's now slightly peeling skin

"I can do anything better than a measly human!"

Balak rushed off and launched an explosive assault at Alex. He started with a few punches to varying locations and continued with an enhanced roundhouse. Alex dodged everything and finally caught the roundhouse with ease. He gave Balak a hard look, the Batarian now had almost all of his veins showing as sickly blueish yellow. Balak's eyes had seemed to have sunk into his skull, making Balak look as if he was on the verge of death.

Alex shook his head as he punched Balak in his gut, making the former slaver spit out blood.

The Batarian backed away, aura gaining the black flickers that Alex's had. Alex watched Balak clench his chest as he seemed to try to continue with one massive attack. A mass of blue sparked in his hand, before his aura shifted fully black. Balak's attack reflected this change and turned black in turn. Alex's eyes widened for a second before he shouted:

"GET DOWN!"

The wind kicked up as the attack grew in size massively. Balak started dry up before it gained the appearance of sand. The attack launched, cutting a wide groove in the floor as it made its way to Alex. Alex supercharged his aura and proceeded to catch the attack. The room turned a blinding white as a massive wave of heat swept over the area.

Alex stood where he was, aura now gone. It appeared to everyone that he seemed somehow okay, but it was far from that upon further inspection. Alex stood, sure, but a majority of his suit was scorched off, showing a mechanical arm for his left. That arm was glowing bright red almost on the verge of melting. His right arm wasn't so lucky. It was nothing but, bone- or what appeared to be. The bone was a light gray color and appeared to be metal. That same arm leaked a blackish-gray blood. When they looked left they noticed a heavily burnt and cut up Turian, unlucky to be just out of the range of a majority of Alex's defense.

Shepard had one thought…

SHIT!

A/N:

So that's a chapter. Sorry it took so long to post, it was a nightmare trying to get the lore of my story figured out so there won't be any future contradictions. I'm also glad I could get this close to 5k words.

Now it feels like I wrote a chapter.

As far as how the magic and fighting work, I plan on explaining that in the next chapter.

Without further ado,

Peace.


	9. Alex's Past & Some Not So Bad Guys

**_FlashBack…_**

"So, you've finally arrived."

Alexander stood in the guild of Tartarus. During his travels in Skyrim, he had often had to jump to other universe to fix a problem here and there. At this time, he was in the guild of Fairy Tail. It was a loud rambunctious guild, and he enjoyed that, but that wasn't why he was here. About a year into his stay in Skyrim, the odd lady he had met before his transit to Tamriel came to his door speaking of a way to fix a problem he had only recently discovered. Apparently his soul didn't like being forced to persist in situations where it should not. Go figure.

This was why he was here in the guild of Tartarus. Their leader, a man with the odd name of Zeref, was apparently immortal. Rochelle had told him to investigate this, and in turn she would give him designs to get to a place where he could fix his… _condition_. Seemed simple enough at first. This was until you started involving gods, demons, dragons, and even more magic.

He was heavily proficient in magic of the type in Tamriel, but in this place… It was just plain confusing. There was clothes for the most random things Alex could think of. Getting rid of odors, Changing clothes, hell, even reading books faster were all types of magic. He mentally sighed at that. Now there was this man who made demons looking for him because he wanted to die…

"Yeah, I can easily see that Captain Obvious." Alex replied in frustration

The figure in black and gray robes stood silent and stagnant. The figure, being Zeref, looked like and Emo teenager and acted like one too. He was always crying and saying he wanted to die. Ya know the type.

"You still do not see why I must do this." Zeref said calmly in a saddened tone

"Nope, and I don't really care. All I see is someone who needs to grow up." Alex answered, cracking his knuckles

"You wish for a fight?"

"Yeah, if ya couldn't figure…" Alex replied awkwardly

"I shall beat you until you give me the information on how to replicate your condition."

Zeref immediately charged, throwing a wave of some black smoke, surrounding Alex, but was cast aside by Alex's counter. Alex threw a wave of Aetherion that quickly blew the wave away. Alex followed up with a blue fireball, and a set of Ice Spears, causing Zeref to jump back and into the air.

Alex attempted to press his advantage, but was forced to dodge thousands of black needles that seemed to follow him. He dodged left and right, but they continued to follow him. Finally tired of the game, he threw his arms out in a hard light barrier that stopped Zeref's attack in its tracks.

He looked up at Zeref, and saw him standing upon a large pillar made of the same black smoke that his other attacks were made of. Alex decided to try out a new move he had been developing for a while, and began to charge.

Alex began to wave his arms as he flowed through the dance like motions of collecting extra Aetherion from the air. It only seemed weird until streams of white and black water like beams began to flow around him. These beams flowed with his hands as he drew in more and more energy. At this time, Zeref began charging another smoke like attack with his hands together with his fingers outstretched. His magic flowed into this attack.

Alex, nearly done gathering Aetherion from the air, brought his hands out to his sides, separating the white and black beams, one to each hand. As he brought his hands forward, they crackled and popped at each other's presence. It was as if they were pushing away from each other. Once his hands met, the white surrounded the black in an almost predatory nature.

Finally charged, Alex let loose his attack shortly followed by Zeref.

" ** _HADRON… CANNON!_** "

" ** _Death Wave._** "

The attacks streaked across and met in the middle of the plaza, shattering the windows, and destroying a few pillars. The attacks seemed at a stale mate until Zeref pumped an extra load of power into his wave. This caused it to start pushing Alex's attack back towards him. Alex, not without a card up his sleeve, activated the second stage of his attack.

" ** _Hadron Set Chain: MIX!_** "

Suddenly, Alex's beam collapsed. This lasted for only a millisecond, as the beam immediately grew to nearly 3 times its previous size and started suck in the Aetherion in the air. It was a set chain attack. This branch of attack essentially could power itself based on how much change occurred around it. Its power would then increase exponentially, and then simply overpower the foe's beam. It was a clever way to quickly overpower almost any enemy.

That is exactly what occurred.

Alex's beam went from 3 times to nearly 10 times its original size, and tore through Zeref's beam and half of the magician's face. Alex's beam then traveled into space where little to no change occurred, and burned itself out. Alex saw Zeref drop from his pillar as it dissipated from under him.

"Hey, were is that Zeref guy so I can bea-"Natsu's voice kicked up as Alex heard a loud clang, which he guessed was Erza

"Natsu, be quiet. We must search for Ale-"Was all she got out as she was met with Alex's cloaked form

"There you are! We were looking for you!" Erza chastised as she saw Alex turn towards her

"I was kinda busy."

As if in cue, a mutilated Zeref got up as flesh and bone knitted itself together as if by magic. By the time he stood up his massively bleeding face was developing mostly muscle, and a slight bit of skin.

Natsu, Erza, and the so far quiet Lucy were green faced as they saw the disgusting sight.

"What the hell!" Erza said, slipping out of her usual mask at the gruesome sight.

Lucy, with the lightest stomach of the group was quietly throwing up to her side as Natsu tried to help her, trying not to follow in her path. Alex, on the other hand was unfazed. He was used to such sights as was the fate of one such as him.

"So, he is immortal." Alex said with obvious curiosity

Alex's curiosity costed him as Zeref fired a shot that clipped his shoulder and killed any life that was in it.

"AH! SON OF A BITCH!" Alex cursed as wiped the residue left by the magic off with his mechanical arm. The leather covering the metal of his artificial arm broke apart, rendering his left glove scrapped.

His shoulder, turned black by the magic was currently going under mass necrosis. In other words, it was dying. The black of his shoulder blew away as ashes to reveal bone as the only surviving thing. Alex cursed until he saw a dark silver cover his bones. The dark silver formed new muscles made of the same metallic material, and soon covered it with new silver skin.

"That son of a bitch. That's going to take months before it looks natural again!" Alex said pissed at the process

"…What?" Was all Erza, the only one with the ability to even speak at the moment, could say

* * *

 ** _Present_**

 ** _Unknown Cerberus Base_**

"Ah, this is some good cake." A small child only appearing to be about 9-10 years old said gleefully

"Yes, princess. I made it exactly as you asked." A thin spindly chef stated nervously

"I only have one question."

"My princess?"

"Why are their raisins?" The girl's gleeful tone turned to a more serious one

"Well, my princess… you asked for a Raisin Fritter cake. I only wished to fulfill your desire."

"You would stick by this, correct?"

"…Yes?" The Chef half asked half stated cautiously

"And… perhaps… you might have considered I may not like raisins."

"The thought di-"

"You made a cake with raisins… knowing full well I may not like raisins, am I correct?"

"I'm so sorry m-"The Chef attempted to apologize, but go no further as the air suddenly left his lungs

"There is no sorry. I asked for a cake, and you gave me a piece of crap!"

The Chef managed a gasp in reply.

"This is your third strike, and I run on a three strike system. Do you know at least what that means?"

If the Chef eyes could have gone any wider, the man would have torn his eyes straight open.

"Marine, you know the Father dislikes you killing the cooks."

A large 7'2'' man seemed to appear out of nowhere. The figure wore massive heavy armor with an odd glowing contraption in the center of his bulky chest plate. He wore a hood that obscured his helmet, though the pulsing white eyes shone prominently behind it. His waist held a cape like piece of cloth that separated in the front as to not impede movement. He carried a large broad sword on his back, which looked to weigh several hundred pounds.

"But, Cherub! I tried! I even gave him three chances!" Marine, the princess, tried to excuse

"I see…" Cherub mumbled, "You have been trying. I may choose not to tell the Father."

"Oh, yes please! I'll be extra good!"

"I see. As long as you listen more carefully to your studies, I will not tell the Father."

"Thank you!"

"Now, run along to Lizzana. She requested your presence."

Marine, dropping the Chef in her excitement, did as she was told and skipped to Lizzana's section of the station. The chef on the other hand was more excited at the prospect of actually surviving.

It was a short while until the Chef recovered his breath. Once he did this, he began to immediately thank Cherub. He knew he would have died without Cherub's saving hand at the last second.

"Thank you, Sire Cherub, I would not have made it if you had not interrupted." The Chef graciously thanked

"I have but spared you a few minutes."

"…What, I'm alive right now. You've spared me."

Then the Chef thought for a second.

He wasn't going to be a chef for them anymore, not after such a folly.

He had no other uses other than being a chef.

He would need to be gotten rid of.

He was expendable…

"You plan to kill me." The Chef deadpanned

"As is the path I must fulfill." Cherub solemnly answered

"I… know I can't beat you." The Chef stated from his sitting position

"That is true."

"You're different from the others."

Cherub made his first move since entering the conversation.

He looked at the Chef.

"How so?"

"You don't look like you are indifferent to the killing. The princess doesn't seem to care, though that could be because she doesn't understand its impact on others. The Queen seems to relish the act, while the Father seems to look at us like ingredients. You're different. You didn't instantly kill me. You've lent me time that the others would not have. For that, I thank you."

"You speak truth. I do not enjoy the act."

"When do you plan on doing the deed?"

"Within the next minute."

"Make it quick, eh?"

"If that is you're final request." Cherub ended with as in a blinding flash the Chef's head left his body in a clean decapitation

The Chef still stood for a few seconds before his head, cauterized along the cut lolled of his head and dropped to the floor with a deafening thud. The sound resonated in Cherub's ears. It was like this after every kill. He, ignoring the pumping in his ears and the even brighter glow of the contraption on his chest plate, twisted his sword in his expertise grip before sliding the still clean blade into the scabbard on his back.

"May you rest in peace, and return to your creator."

With this, he picked up the body and the severed head, still holding a pained smile, on his shoulder and under his left are for the head.

He exited the room with the same expression he entered with…

Sorrow.

* * *

Valera stood over her armor, attempting to fix it. She knew Alex would do it when he got back, but she wanted to take a crack at it. She may not have been good with magic or technology, but she was an elf. This stuff was supposed to be in her blood.

"Come on… I know you can do it." She urged at the hydraulic that had been cut during their spar

She finally got the micro patch over the hose, and watched as it sealed the hole. She pumped her fists into the air as she heard the hum of the generator starting up automatically. That happened when the system detected that all major damage was fixed. It was a safety mechanism.

That was until the hose exploded.

The near boiling hydraulic fluid burst the micro patch, which couldn't hold up the temperatures that the hose was under.

In other words…

She screwed up.

Valera had to cover her eyes as the hydraulic fluid splashed everywhere, the grayish orange fluid burning her skin on contact. She hissed as she felt the chemical eat itself into her skin. Thankfully by now the suit had powered off and she could now wash her singed arms off. She sat up and ran over to the nearby sink as she blew on the liquid as she went, which did supply her with some form of relief. She turned the cold water on full blast and watched as the fluid washed off of her arm, revealing the massive burns she had received.

"Ah, Shit." She cursed

The proceeded to cast a healing spell on her arm which grew new skin to replace the burnt skin that was occupying that area.

 **"** **We've got a code 512, injured personnel along the routes listed at the designated terminals!"**

Valera lanced at the nearby console that lit up showing a map of the ship along with a line between the cargo bay and what Valera assumed was the Med bay.

She figured she should at least figure out who was hurt. She tabbed a bit though the console and found a list. Apparently it was just 2 people.

She read the list further:

 ** _Injured list:_**

 ** _Unknown (Claimed as Bounty Hunter Revenant)_**

 ** _Alexander_**

 ** _…_**

 ** _…_**

 ** _3523872-34782-938472-38_**

Valera just stared at the screen. It was happening.

She had to get to Alex.

If she didn't, there wouldn't be anyone on this ship alive.

* * *

 ** _FlashBack_**

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The blue beam surged past Alex as he gauged his opponent. Phoelia, a close friend of his, was his opponent. Their spar was in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. It was to train Alex's body and mind. He was at a risk to those in his surroundings. Alex's gaze hardened. He had to focus on controlling his soul; otherwise, he would succumb to the effects of his Nanites.

Bringing his hands forward, he covered on hand with another and then bought his hands back. A sword made of pure Aetherion formed in his hands. Its blue glow held a hopeful aura. The aura, at first blue, suddenly raged black and grew. It overcame the blue and shattered the hope found within. Now, it was only a void. He tried to resist, but it seemed to latch on to him. He fought, but it seemed to feed off of his strength. This continued until his eyes were brought up by a flash of golden light.

Before him stood Phoelia, but she looked nothing like her normal self. Her normally black hair had gone a bright shade of gold. Her hair was nearly 5x as long. It now reached down to the middle of her back. Her face was altered. Her normally soft features had hardened an grew. Her jaw was now comparable to a slightly feminine male. Her eyebrows were missing, replaced by large bulky eyebrow ridges. Said ridges stuck out almost an inch from her face. She had one long hair dangling in her face dancing in the winds created by her aura. Lightning danced around her body, sometimes contacting the ground and singeing it.

This was the last thing he saw as she faded from existence.

Then it struck.

Like a sledge hammer to the back of his head, pain erupted in the back of his head. He only noticed once the pain subsided, that he noticed he was flying. The back of his armor skidded along the floor as he flipped back up to his feet, something compelling him to fight. All he could think about. He felt the urge to kill. His black aura exploded around him as he gave into the urge.

The Golden Super Saiyan 3 was watching Alex skidding across the ground. Phoelia, boasting the form, frowned. She had expected that to knock him out. He was getting stronger. And in this form… he would only continue to do so. She knew if he didn't snap out of it he would destroy himself. That was the goal of his training. She had to get him to control his soul. It was breaking down and threatening to throw him into this state at random.

She watched as, at a snail's pace, he flipped up and charged at her, though to her… he might have well not even tried. She calmly flew over and delivered a light punch to his face. In this form, it was almost child's play. She watched as he moved in slow motion, face rippling on contact with her fist. She then, during his slow flight backwards, landed a blow to his stomach. She then proceeded to land a palm strike to his chin. After all of this, she finished it off with good 'ole chop to the neck. She, sensing the drop in his Ki and its current stability, reverted to Super Saiyan 2. His current snail pace sped up to nearly that of a bullet as he slammed into the ground with a resounding thud. The crater he created, taking up a good 10ft, was a good resting place as she felt the oncoming strain of using the form hit her.

They would definitely need more training.

* * *

Valera, now running as fast as she could, sped past the personnel of the Normandy. Her feet tapped against the floor with each stride she took. Nearly running into a few engineers, she roared.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

She finally made it to the elevator, and by Dibella's tits was it slow. How in the living fuck did they get upstairs at any reasonable rate?! She opened the roof hatch, and climbed on the roof of the elevator. She looked up and spotted the small ledge to the next floor not anything but 15 feet up. So, with a jump that would make most basketball stars jealous, jumped that 15 foot gap and barely latched onto the ledge. She pulled herself up with a quiet grunt and sandwiched her fingers in-between the two halves. She, using all of her strength, managed to creak the doors open a foot or so. She stuck her chest through the opening and used it help her force the door open with a terrifying screech.

She continued to run to where she knew the med bay was. After a few people thrown to the side, possibly with a few broken fingers here and there, she finally found the med bay door.

* * *

 ** _Alex's Body-Soul Connection_**

watch?v=fCqMGcrEgLo -Ib - Bad Apple (Music Box)

Alex awoke with a sudden rush of air. His body was thrown for a loop. The air was cold, thick, and misty. It almost had a familiar sense to it. He sat up and decided to look for more information on where he was, which he found out was nearly pointless. Everything was black. It was a dull void that seemed to absorb anything that came into contact with it.

'Where am I'

He cracked his neck as glanced around to make sure he was in working order.

'Arms… check.'

'Legs… check.'

'Nanites… nope.'

Wait… How could he not have his Nanites? Alex glanced at his skin and continued to search for the physical evidence that his Nanites left. Silver-ish skin… nope. Blackening skin around the heart… nope. This was finally what led him to glance at his left arm. It wasn't mechanical. He had to get it replaced a while back in a pretty grueling fight. It was supposed to be there, and yet he had a fully organic arm.

"Well, hello there." A voice from the void spoke

"What… the."

"It has been a long time since you've entered here."

"I've never been here."

"You of all people should know that you can trust a soul when it comes to memories."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Wow, I'd think you'd have more trust in me, but eh, I'll give. Summer's wind through those hazy trees on the 21st of June's light."

That was… no he couldn't know that. That was… the day. The day he proposed to Lizzana. The memories came flashing to him.

* * *

 ** _21_** ** _st_** ** _of June's light_**

 _Alex sat in the hazy trees that he'd grown up in. This was the place where he spent doing most things. Once he met Lizzana, these trees were the place where he asked her out. Alex, 18 at the time, was enamored by these trees. They were almost like a parent to him. They listened to his troubles, his doubts, and only sought to calm his fears. So, it was natural that he would seek them out for the hardest action of his life._

 _Marriage, the bane of all men. He knew that he had to propose. He loved her, and she loved him. It was simple, right? Then why was he so nervous? Why was he worried he would get a no? It wasn't a likely possibility, but it was a possibility none the less. What if it was too soon? What if she'd been expecting it sooner? He had no clue about these things._

 _Alex sighed._

 _He had to suck up his fears, and get over this hill._

 _Even if said hill lead to a broken heart._

 _Alex glanced at his WMT, and checked the time. The handy device told him that it was 7:23 P.M., literally minutes from the sun completing its journey across the sky. He wanted this to be special, so he designated this time and asked Lizzana to meet him here. She was due to arrive any seco-._

 _"_ _Alex? You there?" her soft textured voice blew through the trees as she arrived_

 _"_ _Yea Lizzy. Over this way."_

 _"_ _One question… I know you like hanging out here, but why did you suddenly call me all the way out here? It's like a mile and a half from any place where you can even try to land an air car."_

 _"_ _Uh, well, you see…"_

 _"_ _Please tell me you aren't clamming up again. I told you a hundred times, you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings. Though… if you cheat… all bets are off." Lizzana said with a slight chuckle_

 _"_ _This way, I have to show you something." He said nervously_

 _"_ _More walking? Okay…"_

 _"_ _Just follow me… okay?" Alex said softly, betraying his usual outspoken attitude_

 _Alex led her through a patch of dull crimson trees, as was common in this forest. The normal haze slowly left as they reached a clearing with a direct view over the sun, which was about to set. Alex stopped and sat down on top of the edge of a short 60ft cliff, feet hanging over the edge as he patted the ground next to him. Lizzana was quick to listen after the change in tone that Alex had gone through earlier._

 _"_ _You wanted me to see a sunset? Seems a bit mundane if you ask me."_

 _"_ _That's not the reason I brought you here."_

 _"_ _Well, why did you bring me here?" she asked_

 _"_ _I've got something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, but I've never gotten up the nerve to actually do it."_

 _"_ _Are you breaking up with me?" She deadpanned_

 _"…_ _NO! I'm asking something about as far from that as you can get!" Alex shouted as he seemed shocked at the thought_

 _"_ _Oh."_

 _"_ _Do you remember when we used to play when we were younger? You used to force me to be your prince, and I'd always complain and ask to be your knight."_

 _"_ _Yeah, I remember. You were such a crybaby until I let you be the knight. Then you got really protective. It was cute." Lizzana answered, confused_

 _"_ _Do you remember how those stories always went?" Alex asked standing up and moving back a few feet from the cliff_

 _"_ _Yeah, the Knight always marries the princess…" Lizzana said, getting up and looking at Alex_

 _"_ _Well, I want that story to come to life."_

 _"…"_

 _"_ _Will…" Alex managed out_

 _"_ _You…" Alex forced out, as he took a knee_

 _"_ _Marry…" Alex willed out, as he ruffled through his pocket_

 _"_ _Me?" Alex begged out, as he produced a little box and opened it_

 _Lizzana stood stunned. Alex finally looked up at her, his eyes filled with pure hope. He mentally begged to any deity that would listen to him. He craved to hear that one word, the one word that would complete him. He continued to beg until he heard a word dance upon her lips._

 _"_ _Yes." She said as the summer breeze swept through her hair_

* * *

 ** _In Alex's Body-Soul Connection_**

"How do you know about that?!" Alex roared at the voice

"Simple, because I am YOU. You occupy me and use me to your will. I am your body. All those instincts that keep you alive, hunger, thirst, sleep, love, hate, and all other emotions are of my creation. They are what make you… you."

"What do you want?" Alex asked sternly

"I want to live. You get to steal all the life that should be mine! I am just as much a part of you as your soul. Thanks to those nifty Nanites, I can break your soul, and still have the body remain. As such, I think I'll have my ride sometime in the near future. " The voice boomed

"Like hell you will!"

"I think this exchange is over."

* * *

 **End Music  
**

* * *

A/N: Well, there's the new chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait, but I'm figuring out how some of the characters act, and how to develop them properly. This is very WIP, so I don't expect to be posting very frequently. A lot of the time was spent trying to get a fit on exactly how the characters look.

I'd also like to mention that I don't plan on this fic being very happy overall. I'm more a person to like things tragic, so yeah… that isn't going to be fun. I'm also going to be posting my updated version of what each character's theme song is.

I still don't have one for Marine. :\

But, yeah… I'ma leave this one on a ½ cliffhanger.

Peace.


	10. Announcment

Hey guys, Just wanted to say that I decided that this story sucks ass so...

I'M REDOING IT!

WOOOHOOOO...

So, yeah... I wanted to wait till I got a few chapters in to notify ya'll.

Its called **Interchange Effect (Redone)**

Creative I know...

So...

See ya'll.

Peace


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